


a time of resolutions and resurrections

by anakatieskywalker



Series: Stephanie Brown, Third Robin [7]
Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:09:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25681105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anakatieskywalker/pseuds/anakatieskywalker
Summary: Stephanie Brown was never meant to die, but she did. And then she woke up.
Series: Stephanie Brown, Third Robin [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1858975
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	a time of resolutions and resurrections

Stephanie Brown was never supposed to die, but the world works in mysterious ways. Steph’s heart stopped on Thanksgiving day as Robin, Batman’s sidekick. A few days later, she’s buried as just another kid from Crime Alley who’s end came too soon. A single mother left to pick up the pieces, and a father in the clink. 

Only a handful of people in the world knew the truth, that Robin and Steph died together because they were one and the same. Most of those people didn’t even find out until their friend was already six feet in the ground.

Thirty-seven days after the third Robin took her last breath, she woke up. Steph doesn’t really remember what happened, during the light of day. It lingers at the edges of her mind, like someone standing in the corner of the room, just out of reach. She doesn’t remember how she got to where she is, but when the night comes, she can see it all in perfect clarity.

Waking up, panicking without a utility belt, and then digging herself out of the ground feels like a nightmare, but part of her knows that it was real. She can feel the silk under her fingers, the air getting thinner. She’s stressed because there was no clear way out, and her brain screamed at her that there always was a way out. She just… needed to think more clearly. 

Steph ends up using one of the heels on her feet to dig at the wood panel above her, and then she’s trying to force her way through the dirt. It’s pressing on her from all sides, and then she finally feels the sting of the winter breeze. A part of her wonders why no one was there to help her get out, but she’s not sure why she thought anyone would be coming.

She remembers the sight of the headstone behind her:

Stephanie Brown

Beloved Daughter and Friend

August 11, 2000 - November 24, 2016

There was a bird carved into the top, not that she took long to look at it.

After climbing out of the ground, the next thing she remembers is wandering through the city, and the sound of a broadcast.

“A new vigilante has appeared, and has killed the criminal going by Black Mask. Reports from the police state that the Black Mask is also known as Roman Sionis and there’s now a reward for any information on this vigilante that is apparently going by the name ‘the Red Hood.’ What do you think about all of this, Brad?”

Something about that felt off, like she should know who that was, but nothing was coming up in her memory, and so she stumbled down the street, away from the news station that made her think she was missing something. All Steph wanted at that point was for someone to come and tell her that everything would be okay, but she couldn’t even remember who it was she wanted to come help her.

She’s told she was picked up shortly after that. Her injuries were extensive, not just from digging herself out of the ground, although the scars on her hands are evidence enough of that. 

There was brain damage, from whatever had happened before she came back, but that all seemed to go away, wiped out of her with a fluorescent green wave of anger.

It was a Lazarus Pit, she was told. The only way to bring her back to being able to do anything on her own, and entirely illegal. The woman who did it, who kept her safe and trained her, was known as Talia Al Ghul, Daughter of the Demon Head, in charge of the League of Assassins.

It left her angry, angrier than she had ever been in her entire life. Half of the time her vision was tinted with the green of the Lazarus pit while liquid fire coursed through her veins. So she stayed with Talia, because at that point, she didn’t remember much about who she had been before Talia found her. And she was no good to anyone when she could barely think past the anger.

**Author's Note:**

> [hit me up on tumblr!!](https://thatsuperherosidekick.tumblr.com/)


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